


Beyond

by phoenyxhawke



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2016-03-16
Packaged: 2018-05-27 01:07:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6263470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenyxhawke/pseuds/phoenyxhawke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Celene and Briala reconcile in a field between worlds.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beyond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goldust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldust/gifts).



_Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,  
there is a field. I'll meet you there._

_When the soul lies down in that grass,  
the world is too full to talk about.  
Ideas, language, even the phrase "each other" doesn't make any sense._

Briala led Celene down the winding pathways that climbed and dipped between worlds. The rocky trail suspended between the eluvians twisted steeply upward. Celene labored a little behind.

“Is it much farther?” Celene asked, valiantly attempting to mask how difficult it was for her to navigate the wobbling world of the Fade.

Despite herself, Briala gave herself a little smirk. It was fair after everything, she thought, to revel in her elven superiority in this realm.

“It is here,” Briala said.

Briala stood at the edge of a jagged cliff looking down. Just as Celene was about to catch up, Briala turned, smiled, and jumped over the edge.

“Briala!” Celene cried.

She knelt on the edge of the cliff and peered down. Briala hung securely from a rope tied underneath the overhang. She smiled up at Celene and then swung into an unseen nook. Once the rope loosened, Celene followed. Tucked away in this hidden crevice was a perfectly in-tact eluvian. 

“What a surprise to find an eluvian here,” Celene said. “Where does it lead?”

“You'll see,” Briala said. 

With her key in hand, Briala stepped through the mirror first. The glass warped like water and allowed her to pass. Celene followed.

They emerged the other side into a field of flowers. A multitude of purple and yellow blooms careened out of control. Perfect and wild. The sunlight was bright, but not overbearing, as a small grove of trees cast protective shadows over the grass. Pink petals in the tree tops, knocked free by the breeze, meandered to the ground. Crows spoke to one another in caws and warbles in the branches. One black bird perched atop the only unnatural thing there: a stone ruin, overtaken by creeping vines. Once, it had been a shrine to an elven gods. Now, crumbled, water-stained, and overgrown, it was impossible to tell which.

Upon the stone sat a cast iron bowl full of sand. Stuck in the sand was a handful of incense. Briala stepped close to the altar and lit each one reverently. Celene lagged behind, hesitant to step truly into this world where she was not sure she was welcome.

This time, Briala smiled gently to herself.

"I found this place years ago, when I was mapping out the pathways between the eluvian. It is a strange place. It seems that it does not connect directly to any other known lands. How it came to be is a mystery. I have told no one about it."

She turned and stood in one motion.

"Come, Celene. It is not dangerous."

Celene looked back into Briala's eyes, unguarded by the masks of the court. Tentatively, she moved closer. The air, cleaner than any she'd breathed even in the depths of the forest, was scented by the flowers where bees and butterflies busily buzzed.

"It is magnificent," Celene said.

She bent down to admire a patch of tiny lavender flowers as she tried not to tread them underfoot.

"You truly do not know where we are?" Celene asked, marveling at the pink petals raining down upon them.

"Not precisely," Briala's gaze swung back up to the cracked stone eye of an elven statue. "I have studied this altar. Each time I have discovered something new. I now believe that it is in honor of a god or goddess that we do not know. A forgotten one."

Celene moved closer to stand at Briala's side.

"Why do you think that?" she asked, studying the ivy that crawled in through the statue's mouth.

"The carving there, of the two female figures," Briala explained.

"Where? I do not see it," Celene said, tilting her head this way and that to find them.

"Here," Briala said.

She took Celene's hand and used it to point to a carving on the altar. Upon the altar's legs were carved a number of scenes. Many had been worn away by time. This carving depicted two women holding pitchers. 

"It is beautiful. Truly, there is much to learn from the past and much beauty in it,” Celene remarked.

Aware that her hand was still within Briala's, Celene remained perfectly still in hopes that Briala might not notice, but Briala detected a slight twitch in her hand and in her breath, and she slowly let her go.

"Yes, but the beauty often hides great pain," Briala replied, holding her arms across her chest and looking down.

"Briala, I --" Celene began.

"It is not easy to forgive. Especially out there, where you are still an Empress and I your Spymaster."

"I do not see you as --"

Briala turned to Celene and pressed her fingers to the Empress's lips. As children, Briala made this gesture often. Celene was terrible at hide and seek, and she would often come close to revealing their shared hiding. It had taken much practice for her to remain hidden.

"I didn't bring you here to talk about this. I only wanted to see you again, away from the court and the game. I wanted to see you, speak with you - not the empress of Orlais."

Celene opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Briala looked back into Celene's eyes.

"I miss you," Briala admitted.

"Oh Briala, I've missed you too. You have no idea, I..." Celene trailed off, tears welling up in her eyes. "You were the only one who ever really knew me."

"I know," Briala said, cheekily.

She brushed aside a strand of Celene's hair. The golden strands, now tinged with grey, were as soft as she remembered. Her eyes now crinkled with exhaustion, and her skin had grown more pale. Celene was always an exceptional beauty. A fact that had helped her climb to the role of Empress. As she grew in years, Celene's face had softened, and Briala thought her all the more endearing for it.

Briala took both of Celene’s hands and led her toward one of the cherry trees. Together they laid in the tall grasses. Briala watched a bee hover over one flower and then fly to another. As a girl, she was afraid of bees. Now, she found she could endure the sting, and so they cast no fear over her. She plucked a purple flower and threaded it into Celene’s hair.

“Do you remember the flower crowns we used to make?” Briala asked, admiring the splash of purple against Celene’s hair.

“Do you remember when we were thrown out of the garden for doing so?” Celene said.

They laughed together at the memory. When the laughter died down, there was only the two of them, face to face, for the first time in years.

“Thank you for bringing me here. I know you have placed a lot of trust in me to bring me here,” Celene said.

“Then you had better make it worth my while,” Briala said, crawling into Celene’s lap.

Briala leaned in and their lips touched. Hesitantly, briefly, at first. It was such a familiar sensation from so long ago, much like their very first kiss. Celene smiled and placed her hand on the back of Briala’s head.

“I always do,” she said.


End file.
